How to speak English
By Roger Long Advanced Certified Instructor There were a couple of interesting discussions on a popular billiards forum recently that dealt with English. Not the brand of English we speak every day, mind you, but the brand we smack a cue ball with every time we play pool. In the first discussion, the question was [...]
Down, But Not Out
by: Roger Long, Advanced Certified Instructor Last night I endured a tough test that had me revisiting a lesson that we all need to be reminded of from time to time. I was asked to sub for a team in a 9-ball league whose format calls for each player on a 3-man team to play [...]
The Grip: WHY It Is Important
By Roger Long Advanced Certified Instructor Where and how to grip a cue stick is a largely overlooked matter with a lot of players. Maybe they feel it’s too insignificant to pay much attention to, or maybe no one has ever explained its significance to them. Either way, in this article, I am going to [...]
The Importance Of The Stance
By Roger Long Advanced Certified Instructor Have you ever examined your own pool stance? If you have, did you think it is okay the way it is, or did you think it could use some improvement? Do you know the difference between a good stance and a bad stance? Does the stance make any difference, [...]
The 12 Skill Levels In Pool: A Descriptive Breakdown
By Roger Long Advanced Certified Instructor If you want to see pool players get really fired up about something, just get them talking about rating other players. There is no hotter topic in pool than who should be able to beat who, and why it all should be obviously so. Problem is, everyone’s opinions are [...]
SHARKING
By Roger Long Advanced Certified Instructor In the billiard world, “sharking” is the term used to define any action employed by one player to distract another. In a game where concentration plays such a huge role, sharking becomes a weapon called upon by many players. But sharking is not only considered unsportsmanlike in almost any [...]
The Benefit of Full Stroking
The Benefit Of Full Stroking By Roger Long Advanced Certified Instructor “Don’t poke it, stroke it.” No doubt you’ve heard that worn out cliché many times before. But what does it really mean? What identifies a motion as a poke instead of a stroke? What is really wrong with poking at the cue ball? And [...]
Finding a Good Instructor, Part II
Finding a Good Instructor, Part II (published in the September Issue 2009) In my first article on the subject of finding a good instructor, I gave a few suggestions on things to look for that might identify an instructor as a prospective candidate. In this article I’m going to give more of the same, but [...]
Finding A Good Instructor
FINDING A GOOD INSTRUCTOR (Published in the August 2009 issue of The Break) If you think this is going to be a “look no further than me” type of article just to promote my own services, you’re wrong. I’m writing this in order to deal with a problem that is often encountered but not often [...]
